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Pulp & paper production in the industry could create 9.5 times more added value and more than 6 times more jobs than burning wood for bioenergy only. CEPI's new infographic demonstrates how much we benefit from producing pulp & paper (whether industry or value chain) instead of burning wood for bioenergy only (whether production or value chain).

For more information about the infographic, please contact Ulrich Leberle, CEPI's Raw Materials Director at u.leberle@cepi.org.

Deloitte has been engaged by the Confederation of European Paper Industries (“CEPI”) to issue a limited assurance statement on the data quality rating method CEPI applies on a selection of core indicators published in the “2017 CEPI annual statistics report”, “2016 Environment statistics report” and the “Key Statistics Report”, being a summarizing public report in which the most relevant indicators are published. The core indicators covered by our assurance statement and the detailed data quality rating made by CEPI can be retrieved in Appendix 1 and 2 to our Assurance Statement. The data quality rating method applied by CEPI is based on Product Footprint Category Rules (PFCR) for paper, developed by the European Commission’s DG Environment (see Appendix 2 to our Assurance Statement).

The full limited assurance statement can be consulted at the link at the bottom of this page.

Otherwise for more information you may contact Bernard Lombard, Industrial Policy Director at b.lombard@cepi.org or by phone at (+32) 2 627 49 22

Europe is one of the most forest-rich regions in the world - we are surrounded by 190 million hectares of forests, which makes it 40 % of Europe's territory. European forest cover increases regularly, contributing to growth and jobs in rural area, ensuring wood and ecological services provision.

The bioeconomy covers the sustainable supply of renewable resources, services and their conversion, as well as the conversion of waste streams into food, feed, fibres, materials, chemicals and bioenergy.
Biorefineries being an essential part of the bioeconomy, are industrial installations that provide products from renewable, natural resources, replacing fossil-based products.

CEPI has worked with Deloitte to identify the sector’s significant impacts: what is material in pulp and paper industry. The assessment of the sector on the European level produced detailed matrices and Key Performance Indicators for the identified five most material issues.

One size doesn’t fit all: It is understood that each individual organization will have its own ranking of material topics – depending on its core business, its key markets, countries of operation and other specifics of the organisation.

Ultimately, one of the objectives of this process is to support CEPI’s members can run their own materiality analysis, starting with the industry-wide view presented here – and customizing it further to their own organisation. This is supported by a separate document, the ‘How to’ toolkit.

Paper and board production increases by 1.5%, the highest annual rise since 2010

CEPI member countries’ paper and board production has increased by 1.5% in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to preliminary figures. Total production in 2017 was around 92.3 million tonnes. New capacities and upgrade of existing ones have more than compensated for closures in 2017, similar to 2016.

World paper and board production has also increased by 1.5% in 2017, almost reaching 420 million tonnes according to very first estimates. Japan has registered a moderate growth while the US was stable. Production in Canada, South Korea and India contracted. China has grown at a higher speed than the previous year: +4.7% in 2017 against +2.9% in 2016. Brazil and Russia also recorded strong growth.

Since 2000, the European paper value chain has been committed to the two-fold aim of increasing recycling and joining efforts to remove obstacles hampering paper recycling in Europe. The signatories of the new European Declaration on Paper Recycling have declared their commitment to reach 74% paper recycling by 2020.

In 2016, 72.5% of all paper consumed in Europe was recycled. Relative to 2015, the collection of paper for recycling increased by 0.9%, reaching 59.5 million tonnes. In parallel, paper
consumption slightly decreased, totalling 82.1 million tonnes. These two factors drove a considerable increase in the recycling rate: from 71.9% in 2015 to 72.5% in 2016.
Significantly, this means collection and recycling of paper has increased by 0.5 million tonnes compared to the base year of the Declaration (2015).
Clearly, an important step has already been taken towards reaching the 2020 target of 74% paper recycling. However, we are now fast approaching our maximum potential, since 22% of paper consumption can neither be collected nor recycled.

Changing consumption patterns are affecting the most recycled paper products. Newspaper consumption continued to decline in 2016. Increased consumption of corrugated boxes, the other most recycled paper product, is only partly compensating the challenge to the overall recycling rate of declining graphic (printing and writing) paper consumption. For the commitment period 2016 to 2020, recycling rate calculations have been independently verified by Deloitte. 2016 also features positive achievements at regional level.

The number of countries with a recycling rate below 60% has further dropped to nine. Equally, 17 countries now have recycling rates exceeding 70%, an increase of three, since 2015. On an international level, Europe continues to be the world champion in paper recycling, followed by North America. Other world regions’ paper recycling rates are improving, but coming from lower levels. In Europe, paper fibres are recycled 3.6 times on average, significantly outperforming the world average of 2.4 times.

While the EU is discussing how to transition to a circular economy, the paper fibre loop can serve as a model for circularity. Paper recycling is an industry ‘Made in Europe’. It prolongs value creation and creates job opportunities in Europe from a renewable, predominantly European resource, wood.

Driving year-on-year improvements in the ease and simplicity of recycling requires a huge effort from the paper value chain. This report details these continuing efforts, underlining the pride in the progress the EPRC has made.

CEPI is one of the signatories of the European Paper Recycling Council (EPRC) and holds its secretariat.

CEPI presented in February 2017 a review of its 2050 roadmap scoping the pathways, transformative investments and policy frameworks required for realising a 80% reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions and a 50% growth in the added-value delivered by the forest-fibres and paper industries in Europe. CEPI’s 2050 roadmap takes into account the emissions from the transport and logistics chain of industry. Emissions are estimated at 5 million tonnes of CO2 in 2015, the equivalent to 1.5 billion litres of diesel and accounts for roughly 10% of overall emission in the forest fibre and paper industry. The 2050 roadmap trajectory implies a GHG emissions reduction by 4 million tonnes in the next 35 years.

Such a reduction will be particularly challenging in the highly complex logistics chain of the forest fibre and paper industry. Indeed, raw materials and product deliveries in the European forest fibre and paper industry total approximately 350 million tonnes and cost 7,5 billion euros annually. Furthermore, the raw material supply chains from forests for raw wood and collection points for recycled paper are more scattered than in many other industries and mostly rely on road transport. In addition, finished products need to be delivered with short lead times to final customers across Europe. As a result, transportation represents a significant share in the cost of our final products and cost-efficient logistics are a central topic for forest fibre and paper companies.

Developed by CEPI members’ transport experts, this paper explores the possible pathways for a cost-efficient reduction of the industry transport and logistics chain emission towards 80% by 2050. It is intended to provide a sector specific illustration of the transport decarbonisation challenges and opportunities, which has now become particularly relevant in the context of the European Union’s debate on low-carbon mobility and its recently launched EU Mobility Package initiatives of 31 May and 8 November 2017.

The European pulp and paper industry is the biggest single industrial user and producer of renewable energy in the EU today. 54% of the industry’s total primary annual energy consumption is biomass based. And we have the potential to do even more in the future. We have the
experience, technology and supply chain to play a big part in the bio-economy and that in a resource efficient manner.

In a first of its kind project the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) has called upon its member companies to voluntarily exhibit innovative, emissions-reducing projects that centre on increasing energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. The ‘To Our Roots and Beyond’ project puts the focus back on the industry’s leading role in contributing to a sustainable, low-carbon society. The project demonstates how industry is taking responsibilty in reducing its carbon emissions, as well as taking a leading role in providing bio-based solutions to decarbonise society at large. In total, the project gathers 14 innovative case studies from 10 EU countries, involving 12 companies representing a diverse array of projects. The innovative projects which focus on energy efficiency and/or renewables are indicative of the diverse means the paper industry has at its disposal to reduce emissions whilst building upon its unique strength as an entirely renewable material.